 |
| From Psalms |
Psalm 102
(A prayer of an afflicted man. When he is faint and pours out his lament before the LORD.)
1Hear my prayer, O LORD,
and let my cry come unto thee.
2Hide not thy face from me
in the day when I am in trouble;
incline thine ear unto me:
in the day when I call answer me speedily.
3For my days are consumed like smoke,
and my bones are burned as an hearth.
4My heart is smitten, and withered like grass;
so that I forget to eat my bread.
5By reason of the voice of my groaning
my bones cleave to my skin.
6I am like a pelican of the wilderness:
I am like an owl of the desert.
7I watch, and am as a
sparrow alone upon the house top.
8Mine enemies reproach me all the day;
and they that are mad against me are sworn against me.
9For I have eaten ashes like bread,
and mingled my drink with weeping.
10Because of thine indignation and thy wrath:
for thou hast lifted me up, and cast me down.
11My days are like a shadow that declineth;
and I am withered like grass.
12But thou, O LORD, shall endure for ever;
and thy remembrance unto all generations.
13Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion:
for the time to favour her,
yea, the set time, is come.
14For thy servants take pleasure in her stones,
and favour the dust thereof.
15So the heathen shall fear the name of the LORD,
and all the kings of the earth thy glory.
16When the LORD shall build up Zion,
he shall appear in his glory.
17He will regard the prayer of the destitute,
and not despise their prayer.
18This shall be written for the generation to come:
and the people which shall be created shall praise the LORD.
19For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary;
from heaven did the LORD behold the earth;
20To hear the groaning of the prisoner;
to loose those that are appointed to death;
21To declare the name of the LORD in Zion,
and his praise in Jerusalem;
22When the people are gathered together,
and the kingdoms, to serve the LORD.
23He weakened my strength in the way;
he shortened my days.
24I said, O my God,
take me not away in the midst of my days:
thy years are throughout all generations.
25Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth:
and the heavens are the work of thy hands.
26They shall perish, but thou shalt endure:
yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment;
as a vesture shalt thou change them,
and they shall be changed:
27But thou art the same,
and thy years shall have no end.
28The children of thy servants shall continue,
and their seed shall be established before thee.
Afflictions can come in many shapes and forms. For the addict it is a self affliction. We, in our own decisions cause our own suffering and hardships. We choose the numbing of our addiction to help problems over facing them on, despite the impact on lives and relationships. This psalm tells the tale of a person who has hit bottom - much like our own stories of hitting bottom through alcohol, drugs, sex, food, etc. We don't realize we've been paying for our addiction to everything that is valuable slowly spending away our marriages, friendships, and family. All the while we spend our away our money and accomplishments all the while the chains of addiction lock us in and we have no longer any control.
It's at this point we recite psalm 102 in some form, "Hear my prayer, O Lord; let my cry for help come to you." Many have been there and never want to experience it, again. This keeps us committed to our recovery. I read a quote from Dr. Bob Rotella (a sports coach) recently about what commitment means. "I sometimes use the example of a chicken, a pig, and their relative contributions to breakfast. The chicken is involved in breakfast. The pig is committed to it." To understand this is to understand what it means to be fully committed to recovery and to know that "half measures availed us nothing." And in the same way we, addicts in recovery, commit our lives to God because we know he is persistent and we came to believe that He could restore us to sanity.
Thanks for letting me share.
No comments:
Post a Comment